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2019

...and other such stories

The Gun Violence Memorial Project, MASS Design Group in collaboration with Hank Willis Thomas | Tom Harris, 2019

The 2019 edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial titled ...and other such stories traced narratives originating from its home city of Chicago and revealing connections between various practices and the questions they raise across global communities, cities, territories, and ecologies. In our current moment of shifting political alliances, rapid environmental change, and renegotiations of rights and civic life, …and other such stories highlighted the ways that architecture and public space have been used as sites for collective action and social change.

The 2019 edition positioned the Chicago Cultural Center as a place in which to gather, think from, and question what constitutes the city today through contributor projects, ongoing performances, and a series of curatorial programming weekends. …and other such stories also presented a number of off-site projects produced in collaboration with Chicago-based organizations and communities, fostering conversations that resonated both locally and globally. The 2019 edition featured 85 contributors from 25 countries and 58 cities.

Visit the 2019 edition website.

Re-collection, Alexandra Pirici | Daris Jasper, 2019
Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Center, Settler Colonial City Project | Tom Harris, 2019
Students tour Great Lakes Water School, Oscar Tuazon | Nathan Keay, 2019

Exhibition Sites

Chicago Cultural Center

The historic Chicago Cultural Center was the main site of the 2019 edition. The Cultural Center featured more than 40 contributor projects and functioned as a site for workshops, programs, and performances for the duration of the exhibition. The Cultural Center was also home to the exhibition Resources Hub; the Learning Lab; the Graham Foundation Book Shop; and Common Ground, a site for gathering and conversation.

(Former) Anthony Overton Elementary School

Anthony Overton Elementary School, located in the Bronzeville neighborhood, closed in 2013 after more than fifty years of operation. A week-long series of exchange, research, tours, and youth workshops at Overton with contributors Herkes İçin Mimarlık (Architecture for All), studioBASAR, and Zorka Wollny along with Borderless Studio, who has been working on projects at the school since 2015, led to the production of new works which were on view at the site between September and November.

National Public Housing Museum

The National Public Housing Museum is a place for social reflection, public dialogue, and education; it is the only cultural institution devoted to telling the story of public housing in the US. A live sound installation from Johannesburg-based collective Keleketla! Library in collaboration with the Stockyard Institute that reflects on collective memories and contested histories in relation to public housing in Chicago was on view to the public between September and October.

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum draws upon the legacy of international peace activist and feminist, Jane Addams. A new, site-specific work from Tania Bruguera and the Asociación de Arte Útil, and a textile-based installation by artist Jorge González, were on display at the Hull-House Museum for the duration of the Biennial. Both projects echo the social use of art and architecture that was pioneered by the Hull-House Settlement.

SAIC at Homan Square

In summer 2019, artist Akinbode Akinbiyi was in residence at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Homan Square campus, engaging North Lawndale residents in a series of walking photography workshops. Akinbiyi also produced a series of new photographs documenting the neighborhood and other parts of the city, which were on display at the Chicago Cultural Center and at Homan Square during the Biennial.

Publication

The companion publication to the edition, ...and other such stories, expands on the curatorial focus through a range of essays, interviews, research materials, and visual dossiers. Published by the Chicago Architecture Biennial in association with Columbia Books on Architecture and the City. Edited by Yesomi Umolu, Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares. The catalogue may be purchased through Columbia University Press.

Contributors

Adrian Blackwell (Toronto, Canada)

Akinbode Akinbiyi (Berlin, Germany)

Alejandra Celedon, Nicolas Stutzin and Javier Correa (Santiago, Chile)

Alexandra Pirici (Bucharest, Romania)

Avijit Mukul Kishore and Rohan Shivkumar (Mumbai, India)

Black Quantum Futurism (Philadelphia, USA)

Borderless Studio (Chicago, USA)

CAMP (Mumbai, India)

Carolina Caycedo (Los Angeles, USA)

Center for Spatial Research (New York, USA)

Chicago Architectural Preservation Archive (Chicago, USA)

Clemens von Wedemeyer (Berlin, Germany)

Cohabitation Strategies (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and Urban Front (New York, USA) ConstructLab (Berlin, Germany)

DAAR - Sandi Hilal & Alessandro Petti (Beit Sahour, Palestine)

Detroit Planning Department (Detroit, USA)

Do Ho Suh (London, England)

FICA - Fundo Imobiliário Comunitário para Aluguel (São Paulo, Brazil)

Forensic Architecture (London, England) and Invisible Institute (Chicago, USA)

Herkes İçin Mimarlık - Architecture For All (Istanbul, Turkey)

Jimmy Robert (Berlin, Germany)

Joar Nango (Romssa /Tromsø, Norway)

Jorge González (Puerto Rico)

Keleketla! Library (Johannesburg, South Africa) in collaboration with Stockyard Institute (Chicago, USA)

Maria Gaspar (Chicago, USA)

MASS Design Group (Boston and Poughkeepsie, USA and Kigali, Rwanda)

 

MSTC in collaboration with Escola da Cidade and O Grupo Inteiro (São Paulo, Brazil)

Ola Hassanain (Khartoum, Sudan and Utrecth, Netherlands)

Oscar Tuazon (Los Angeles, USA)

Palestine Heirloom Seed Library Project (West Bank, Palestine)

Raumlabor (Berlin, Germany)

RIWAQ - Center for Architectural Conservation (Ramallah, Palestine)

RMA Architects (Mumbai, India and Boston, USA)

Sammy Baloji and Filip de Boeck (Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Santiago X (Chicago, USA)

Settler Colonial City Project (Ann Arbor USA and Guayaquil, Ecuador)

Somatic Collaborative - Felipe Correa & Devin Dobrowolski (New York, USA)

studioBASAR (Bucharest, Romania)

Sweet Water Foundation (Chicago, USA)

Tania Bruguera (New York, USA) and Associación de Arte Útil (Havana, Cuba)

Tanya Lukin Linklater (Ontario, Canada) and Tiffany Shaw-Collinge (Alberta, Canada)

Territorial Agency - John Palmesino & Ann-Sofi Rönnskog (London, England)

The Funambulist (Paris, France)

Theaster Gates (Chicago, USA)

Usina - CTAH (São Paulo, Brasil)

Vincent Meessen (Brussels, Belgium)

Walter Hood (Oakland, USA)

Wendelien van Oldenborgh (Berlin, Germany)

Wolff Architects (Cape Town, South Africa)

Zorka Wollny (Berlin, Germany)

Team

Curatorial
Yesomi Umolu, Graham Foundation Artistic Director 
Sepake Angiama, Co-Curator
Paulo Tavares, Co-Curator
Alex Priest, Assistant Curator
Marguerite Wynter, Assistant Curator
Cecília Resende Santos, Curatorial Fellow

Graphic Design and Art Direction
ELLA

Press and Media
Camron PR
Agency H5

Staff
Todd Palmer, Executive Director
Rachel Kaplan, Deputy Director
Tess Landon, Manager of Learning Initiatives
Lauren McPhillips, Manager of Public Programs & Partnerships
Therese Marie Peskowits, Exhibition Manager
Christine Pundavela, Manager of Communications & Marketing
Cathy Hsiao, Digital Content Coordinator
James Lambrix, Exhibition Coordinator
Jennifer Latshaw, Special Events Coordinator
Karla Aguiniga, Public Programs & Engagement Coordinator
Megan Moran, Learning Initiatives Coordinator
Michael Savona, Design Coordinator
Unyimeabasi Udoh, Graphic Designer